Annual dolphin hunt takes place in Japan's Taiji Cove

Hundreds of dolphins have been rounded up by Japanese fishermen to be killed
or sold into captivity in the annual Taiji Cove hunt

8:23AM GMT 20 Jan 2014

Warning: video contains images that some may find distressing

The annual dolphin hunt is currently underway in Taiji in western Japan, where local fisherman corral dolphins in a secluded bay before killing many for meat.

The practice has long been a source of controversy and was the topic of The Cove, an Oscar-winning documentary.

Every year the fishermen of Taiji - a small fishing town in Japan's Wakayama prefecture - drive hundreds of dolphins into a cove, select some for sale to marine parks, release some back into the sea and kill the rest for meat.

Japan has long maintained that killing dolphins is not banned under any international treaty and that the animals are not endangered, adding that dolphins need to be culled to protect fishing grounds.